I have that Dover book, but my books have far overflowed my bookshelves
and are stacked high all over the floors. So I can't pull it out right
away to ID the picture. I can barely move my in-front-of-the-computer
chair for piles of books related to the (long overdue) one I'm working
on now.
If it helps any, I've published two books on late 1870s and early 1880s
women's clothing, with patterns. The series is called Fashions of the
Gilded Age, and the two volumes can be used independently. Volume 2
contains the patterns for evening and ball gowns, and a dressmaking
manual, but Volume 1 has the patterns for corsets, bustles,
undergarments, etc.
First, I'm a bit concerned about whether the
dress will flatter her or not. She's 5' nothing and curvy. She's in
proportion but weighs 125-130, so she's kinda built along the lines of
Jennifer Rabbit only not so tall. Should I try to guide her away from
this style and suggest more bustle, from maybe 1875 instead?
I think the minimal-bustle "natural form era" styles, which is what this
is, look better on shorter women than on very tall and slender ones.
Tall women can wind up looking like a pole in them, if they are not
careful. (I'm 4'9", BTW.)
I usually buy 10 yards minimum, but I haven't a clue how
much that skirt might require.
That's my standard buying amount for costumes I don't have yardage for.
But this is a period where different fabrics are commonly combined
for evening dresses.
OK, I managed to dig up my office copy of Volume 2 of Fashions of the
Gilded Age. Here's a pattern for an evening dress with a long train. The
yardage given is 6 yards of velvet for the bodice and trained skirt
back, 7 3/4 yards of satin for the skirt itself, and 3 1/4 yard of
brocaded gauze to arrange over the skirt.
Here's a pattern for another evening dress, with a trained skirt back
and more of a bustle effect, made entirely of canary yellow satin,
requiring 20 yards 20 inches wide.
Which is a point to consider for these yardages: They're not talking
about modern 54" wide fabric. There are two tables of period widths for
a large variety of fabrics, in the dressmaking manual in back. They vary
from fabric to fabric; but if you assume a width of not more than 36" in
these descriptions, you should come out OK.
Here's a pattern for a reception dress with a moderate bustle effect and
no train. It requires 12 yards of black satin duchesse and 5 1/2 yards
of black brocade, 24 inches wide.
Here's a pattern for a satin and brocade evening dress with a rather
short train. The skirt and its drapery require 18 yards of light bronze
satin, and the polonaise (bodice combined with overskirt) requires 6 1/2
yards of light blue satin brocade.
The book has patterns for several other evening dresses and ball gowns
for which no yardage is given. According to dressmaking instructions of
the period, you were supposed to do a mock layout of your pattern on the
floor and buy material accordingly.
You will also need a lining fabric. I always use rather lightweight, but
not sheer (except for very light fabrics) plain-weave cotton, in as
close to the same color as the outer fabric as I can find. The lining
fabrics they used run to a narrower selection of off white (for white
fabrics), various shades of tan (for most fabrics) and black (for black
fabrics). However, other colors were sometimes used.
Although "colored" laces were used to some extent in this period, the
majority, especially for formal wear, were yellowish off-white, ecru, or
black. These are classic colors you can always use for some other
project if you have too much for this one.
There is a kind of coarse, off-white cotton lace that was very popular
in the 1970s or so, which is a fairly decent imitation of Victorian
bobbin lace. A lot of it gets sold on eBay, and you can buy long pieces
in single styles. (Although, it is OK to mix lace patterns in trimming
one garment if they harmonize and you do it in a logical way.) I've
bought cards with as much as 50 yards of it, for reasonable prices. So
my advice is, go to eBay, browse the lace in the "textiles" section, and
have a field day buying whatever patterns of this lace take your fancy.
If you don't use them now you will later.
If it's 100% cotton lace you can dye it. I have dyed lace ecru for an
1890s ballgown by making strong coffee, and leaving the lace in there
till the color was dark enough that I thought it would be right once it
was rinsed and dried. I don't like black lace, so don't buy it often,
and have never dyed any black.
I just remembered: Dharma Trading Company, www.dharmatrading.com,
recently started carrying dyeable, 100% cotton, coarse bobbin-style
laces, and they're cheap. I haven't bought any yet, but you might want
to have a look. Dharma also sells ecru and black dyes.
I don't know why you think your daughter won't wear the dress often. But
she might find it more wearable with a detachable train to both the
skirt and the trained petticoat that is needed underneath; which is a
period thing to do. For petticoats they buttoned on the trained part,
for dress skirts there is more than one strategy. Also, multiple-part
dresses were common. She might find the dress more wearable with a
choice of day and evening bodices, or a choice of two different
underskirts to wear underneath.
Fran
Lavolta Press Books of Historic Sewing Patterns
http://www.lavoltapress.com
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